Foldable chair



June 245, 1930. N BROWN 1,767,73fi

FOLDABLE CHAIR Filed Aug. 9, 1928 /0 L9 gvmwnfoi 7731075); W-

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Patented June 24, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT? oFFIcs NEWTON crown, or RACINE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR 'ro ooL'n MEDAL camr FURNITURE MFG. 00., OF RACINE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN FOLDABLE CHAIR Application filed August 9, 1928. Serial No. 298,473.

This invention relates to chairs and more particularly to foldable or collapsible chairs having arms and a flexible back.

Various types of foldable or collapsible chairs, are known. One type consists of side frame sections and a fabric seat, a fabric back and crossed legs for securing the side sections together. In makin this type of chair heretofore, the crosse legs were not in the same plane. Hence, it was necessary to compensate for this in some way, as by spacing the uprights or posts of one section further apart than those on the other section, thus rendering the side sections of unequal length. This rendered the chair unbalanced and unsymmetrical which was objectionable because it made the chair unattractive in appearance and unstable.

The present invention relates to a foldable chair of this type and has for an object the provision of means whereby the uprights in the side sections of such a chair may be equally spaced and the two side sections of the chair may be made the same shape and size. In this way the chair is made symmetrical and attractive in appearance and its stability is enhanced.

In carrying out the present invention,

crossed legs are disposed in the plane of the uprights to which they are attached, thus removing the causes for the unsymmetrical arrangements of the prior art.

. Another object of the invention is to provide strong and effective means for pivotally connecting the crossed legs to the uprights and for permitting more compact folding than was possible on chairs of this nature heretofore devised.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the following description.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention showing the chair unfolded and ready for use;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the chair in folded position;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side view of the legs and an upright of the chair showing how these gether; a

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view on line 414 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a cross sectional View on line 5 of Figure 3, a portion of the link 9 being cut away to show its construction;

F igure 6 is a cross sectional View online 663of one of the bracket elements of Figure Figure 7 is a cross sectional view on line 7-7 of one of the pivoting bars shown in Figure 3; and

Figure 8 is a fragmentary side view of a modificationin which the side structure does not have a rocker.

In the embodiment illustrated, the chair consists of two side-frame sections each consisting of a front upright 10, a rear upright 11 and rungs 19, rocker 15 and arm 13 for securing the front and rear uprights together. These side sections are secured together by front and rear pairs of crossed legs disposed transversely of the chair as shown. The lower ends of the crossed legs have angular brackets 7 riveted or otherwise secured thereto. The angular parts of the brackets are pivotally connected to the uprights 10 by pins 8. The upper ends of the legs are secured to the posts 10 by links 9. The links are pivotally mounted on the uprights by pins 18 and are secured to the legs by a slot and pin connection as shown at 16 and 17. The slot 17 is of such length as to permit limited movement of the pin 16 along the link toward or away from the pin 18 'so that the legs may be folded as shown in Figure 2 but when moved into the position shown in Figure 1 the sections are secured to the legs by the links 9 against further outward movement. This'construction permits the legs to be brought nearly into parallelism with the side sections and thus permits compact folding.

The rear uprights 11 have extensions for supporting the flexible back 12 which may be made of fabric such as canvas and which is secured to the extensions as shown. Seat supporting bars or rods 20 are connected to members are secured tothereto as the upper ends of the corresponding crossed legs for supporting a flexible seat 14 which may also be made of canvas.

Referring now to the construction of the crossed legs, it will be seen that one of the legs of each pair is preferably so made as to provide two members 1 and 2 offset from one another. This is accomplished by riveting or otherwise securing two similar bars 5 to the opposite sides of members 1 and 2. The bars 5 are provided with offset portions 6 as shown and when riveted to the members 1 and 2 provide an offset in the leg. The other leg 3 of each pair which is straight passes between the bars 5 and is pivoted by a pin 4. By this construction, the offset is made just sufficient to permit the members 1 and 2 to be brought into parallelism with the leg 3, thus permitting compact folding. The leg 3 and the members 1 and 2 of the leg having the offset may be made of wood while the bars 5 may be made of metal.

In effect, the chair consists of a collapsible cross legged stool interposed or hung between two side frame sections for supporting arms and a back, the stool comprising the crossed legs, 1, 2, and 3, the side bars 20 and the seat 14, this stool being fastened to the side frames by the bracket 7 and links 9.

In the modification shown in Figure 8,

,the rockers 15 of Figure 1 are omitted and the legs 10 and 11 are not shaped for the accommodation of rockers, otherwise the structure of the straight chair may be the same as that of the rocker.

The chair is folded by slightly raising the seat bars 20 after which the side frame structures may be pushed toward one another so that they take the position shown in Figure 2. lVhen in the open position as shown in Figure 1, the angle between the links 9 and the crossed legs is small so that the chair can not be collapsed by merely pushing on the side sections. lVhen the seat bars 20 are slightly raised, however, the seat sections may be pushed together.

From the above description, it will be seen that a chair has been provided in which the front posts 10 and the crossed legs 1, 2 and 3 connected thereto are in a single plane or are aligned transversely of the chair whether the chair is in the open or closed position and that the rear posts 11 and the crossed legs connected thereto are also in a single plane or are aligned transversely of the chair. In view of this arrangement, it will be seen that the posts 10 and 11 on one side of the chair may be spaced the same distance apart as those on the other side and that the two sides of the chair maybe made alike providing the chair with symmetrical side sections when complete.

I claim: I,

A foldable wooden chair comprising a pair of similar side frame sections of equal size having front and rear uprights in the same transverse plane, a collapsible stool interposed between said sections and having wooden crossed legs at its front and rear, each pair of crossed legs being in a common plane, the front crossed legs being in the same transverse plane as the front uprights and the rear crossed legs being in the same transverse plane as the rear uprights, and

hinges comprising integral angular side plates providing a pivotal connection between the lower ends of the crossed legs and the uprights and serving to offset the lower ends of the crossed legs inwardly from the uprights whereby to permit compact foldm In witness whereof, I hereto aflix my signature.

NEl/VTON N. BROWN. 

